>>> chrisd at russiajournal.com 05/25/01 04:38AM >>>
PLEASE be highly sceptical about any Western (esp. anglophone) reporting on Russia. It is almost always highly sensationalistic and based on very sketchy data. It certainly does not describe the country I live in. (I recently had an American tell me that 1/3 of Russian teenagers are heroin abusers. Come on. I don't recollect seeing legions of young emaciated obvious junkies marching through the streets, unless they hide it really, really well.)
There is something pornographic about these "look how awful things in Russia are" pieces. Not to mention that it seems almost prescribed by law that, somewhere in the article, you have to mention how this was all caused by Communism.
(((((((((
CB: What do is your assessment of the accuracy of the reports on drastic drop in life expectancy in Russia since capitalism came in ?